Improvement in hoofed-skirts



UNITED STATES aTnwT traen,

O. S. HU'IGHINSON, OF BURLINGTON, NEYV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM T. HOPKINS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HOOPED-SKIPFI'S.

Spcciiieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,9%), dated November 1 8, 18672.

To all w71 om it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, C. S. HU'rcHrNsoN, of Burlington, Burlington county, New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in Hoop- Skirts; and I do hereby declare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists of a pad and straps, or their equivalents, connected to the waistbelt and front tapes of a hooped skirt, and arranged for application to the wearer's person, substantially as described hereinafter, so that the rear of the skirt may retain its desired form, and so that the weight of the skirt and the clothing on the outside of the same may be, in a great measure, removed from the waist, and maybe sustained by the pad, thereby relieving the wearer from the inconveniences experienced in using skirts, the weight of which is sustained by the waist-belt alone.

In order to enable others to make my invention, I will now proceed to describe the mannerofconstructing and applying the same.

On reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure l is a view, partly in section, of a hooped skirt with my improvement, as it appears when applied to the person of the wearer; and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan, drawn to an enlarged scale, of the skirt on the line 1,2,Fig. l.

The hooped skirt, viewed separately from my improvement, may be constructed'according to any of the many plans in common use. In the present instance, and as illustratedin the drawings, it consists of a series of hoops connected together by tapes a, the upper ends of which are attached to the belt A, the latter being secured to the wearers waist by any suitable fastenings, and the upper hoops of the skirt being discontinued infront, so as to leave part ofthe skirt open. The ends of these discontinued hoops are connected to the tapes B and B', which, as is the case with the tapes a a, extend from the waistbelt to the lowest hoop of the skirt. To the rear of the waist-belt I secure the upper end of a strip or pad, H, of soft fabric, leather, or other suitable material, so arranged as to bear against the wearer's back below the waist. A number of straps, G, Fig. l, extend l from one edge of the pad H to the tape B, a similar number of straps, G', extending from the opposite edge of the pad to the tape B', each of these tapes being provided on rheinside with suitable buttons, e, or other fastenin gs to which the straps are connected.

In ordinary hoopskirts the entire weightof the hoops and their appendages, as well as the weight of the clothing on the protruding rear of the skirt, is sustained by the waistbelt, which is consequently a source of more or less uneasiness and inconvenience to the wearer.

Difficulty is experienced in maintaining the rear of an ordinary skirt immediately below the waist in the desired arched form, as there is nothing to resist its depression but the tapes B and B', to which tapes the ends of the upper disconnected hoops are connected.

Owing to this the weight of the clothes at the rear of the skirt tends to depress the latter, to push forward the tapes B and B', and consequently to force the front of the skirt forward, thereby detracting from the symmetry of the wearer's figure and imparting ungraceful folds to the dress. As the pad H, which bears against the wearers back, is connected by the straps G and G' to the tapes B and B', it will be evident that the latter must be retained in their proper position, and, as the ends of the upper hoops are also connected to the same tapes, these hoops must be prevented from being depressed at the rear. rIhe rear of the skirt, as well as the front below the waist, must therefore be retained in that position in respect to the wearers person which is most desirable for imparting to the dress the shape demanded by the present fashion. At the same time, the weight of the rear of the skirt, as well as that ot' the outer clothing, is, in a great measure, sustained by the pad H and straps G and G', and the latter are not only applied to thatportion of the wearers person which is best adapted for sustaining the pressure of the skirt without inconvenience, but the pad and straps are distributed over such an extent of surface that the weight and pressure sustained by them are almost imperceptible to the wearer.

Although I prefer the use of the pad with the straps, as the latter, having a number of button-holes, admit of ready adjustment, and

enable the wearer to ineke the skirt protrude more or less at the rear, it will be evident that a sniple belt extending round the body and connected to the two tapes B and B may be used.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentlhe pad H and straps G and G', or the equivalents to the sanne, when Connected to the waist-belt and front tapes, B and B and arranged for application to the wearers person, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof l have signed myname to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

C. S. HUTGHIN SON.

Witnesses:

GEO. G. KING, JOHN W. WooDsIDE. 

